The Director of the Intelligence Bureau (DIB) is the head of the Intelligence Bureau, India's premier domestic-intelligence agency. The current director of the Intelligence Bureau is Mahesh Dixit, incumbent since 1 July 2026.
Since the bureau's inception, the office has always been held by an Indian Police Service officer. It is the highest rank attainable by any member of the service; the director of the Intelligence Bureau is therefore at any given time, the senior-most police officer in India.
Authority The DIB is a member of the Strategic Policy Group and the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), but intelligence inputs go through the regular channels in the Ministry of Home Affairs to the NSCS. DIB reports to the Prime Minister, Home Minister and the Home Secretary of the Government of India.
Although the director of the Intelligence Bureau is entitled to wear the uniform of an officer of four-star rank, the highest such police rank in India, he is not expected to per precedent and generally does not don a uniform even on ceremonial occasions.
List of directors + List of Directors of the Intelligence Bureau No. Director Took office Left office 1 T. G. Sanjeevi Pillai 12 April 1947 14 July 19502B. N. Mullik15 July 19509 October 1964 3 S. P. Varma October 1964 January 1968 4 M. M. L. Hooja January 1968 November 1971 5 Atma Jayaram November 1971 August 1975 6 S. N. Mathur August 1975 February 1980 7 T. V. Rajeswar February 1980 August 1983 8 R. K. Kapoor August 1983 November 1984 9 Hari Anand Barari November 1984 March 1987 10 M. K. Narayanan April 1987 December 1989 11 R. P. Joshi December 1989 December 1990 10 M. K. Narayanan January 1991 February 1992 12 V. G. Vaidya March 1992 July 1994 13 D. C. Pathak August 1994 August 1996 14 Abhijit Mitra August 1996 September 1996 15 Arun Bhagat September 1996 April 1998 16 Shyamal Datta April 1998 May 2001 17 K. P. Singh May 2001 July 2004 18 Ajit Doval July 2004 January 2005 19 E. S. L. Narasimhan February 2005 December 2006 20 P. C. Haldar January 2007 December 2008 21 Rajiv Mathur January 2009 December 2010 22 Nehchal Sandhu 2010 2012 23 Syed Asif Ibrahim 1 January 2013 31 December 2014 24 Dineshwar Sharma 1 January 2015 31 December 2016 25 Rajiv Jain 1 January 2017 26 June 2019 26 Arvind Kumar 26 June 2019 30 June 2022 27 Tapan Deka 1 July 202230 June 2026 28 Mahesh Dixit1 July 2026Incumbent
See also Home Secretary (India) Secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing Director of the Special Protection Group Director General of the National Investigation Agency
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